Politically, environmentalism has had a few good months in the United States. Hurricane Sandy put the words “climate change” back in the national vocabulary. Republican attempts to attack Democrats for waging a “war on coal” failed to win many votes in states like Virginia and Ohio on Election Day. In his second inaugural address, President Barack Obama made climate action a priority. A climate rally in Washington is being planned for later this month, and the president has committed to conducting a “national conversation” on the subject.

Environmentalists hope all this will pave the way for their top goal: having the Environmental Protection Agency issue comprehensive greenhouse-gas-emission limits on existing facilities under the Clean Air Act.

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